


Fallen

by alumort



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Jinchuriki Rock Lee, M/M, Naruto Rare Pair Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24014062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alumort/pseuds/alumort
Summary: "He could smell blood. He could see blood. And it wasn't his own..."
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Rock Lee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Fallen

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt; any au  
> I have too many wips but I want to expand on this. did another AU that I want to expand on for the event, but it's for the last day ;3  
> hope you enjoy!

_ He could smell blood. He could  _ **_see_ ** _ blood. And it wasn't his own, _ as his injuries were healed in mere seconds. 

His friends were in the ground. Choji, Kiba, Naruto...  _ Neji _ . They were bleeding, and Sakura couldn't take care of all of them now, couldn't hide. His body felt light, his teeth and hands hurt. For a moment, his vision became better, eyes falling in the two people that started the bloodshed. Two Sannin, who used to protect the village they grew in, who teamed up to crush it to dust.

"The jinchuriki will die", one of them exclaimed, with a smirk that boiled his blood. "Kushina gave birth to the blond, that’s the one we had to kill."

"Excellent. One pest lesss."

Pest? Did they just called Naruto a  _ pest _ ?

Lee couldn't control his arms anymore. His body was in a crouch, an orange aura covering his skin. He... just  _ observed _ , unable to do anything more.

"Huh? Jiraiya, you said-"

Something inside him screamed, a voice that was his own but at the same time wasn't. He jumped, kicking one of the enemies in the chest in an ungraceful way. His claws slashed skin( _ or clothes, he slashed something anyways so details were unnecessary, in his current state _ ), just to attack the air after the raven haired dodged.  He felt more people coming to their aid, but he couldn't do anything. His teeth were sharp, showing in a distorted expression, hair spiking up. One of them tried to do a jutsu, only to fail at the power of his orange armor.

"You!", a different voice shouted from behind him, and a blonde head appeared in his vision. 

He couldn't control his body. The orange armor was sticking to his skin and it was painful,  _ painful _ , why was it so  **_painful_ ** ? 

Dodging the newcomer, he leapt to a white mop of hair, fangs closing near its end. He coughed hair, and his claws failed again. No words could come from his mouth. They had angered the jinchuriki, he had some form of freedom and he wasn't going to let them go away with that. A small light ball was forming between his lips, and a ray was shot to the paler old person. They acted like it was nothing, even when blood fell from their leg.

"Lee", a younger voice called  _ (a child? Teen?), _ shaky and weak. 

But he wasn't  _ Lee _ . He was  **K** **_u_ ** **ra** **_m_ ** **a** , and he wanted revenge to the ones that angered his kind vessel. The Kyubi growled, trying to slice the enemies again, only to find that the blonde was helping him too, in a way. Another person hoped in, and the nine-tails would recognize his previous vessel anywhere; she was fighting the old men, instead of trying to keep him at bay.

"Lee!"

Kurama felt the same voice as before, quickly coming closer and trying to carry him away. What did they want to do? He had to  _ fight _ . But he found himself in an embrace, anger slowly fading away; his fangs were still out, yrt he knew his control would be gone soon. The vessel wanted it that way.

" _ Stop _ , Lee; you can't defeat them", his companion exclaimed, the orange aura hurting his skin; they didn't flinch or turn away, holding him close to their chest. "We have to hide."

His claws were still unsheathed, his arms trying to get away.  _ He could smell blood. He could see blood. And it wasn't his own _ , his friend was getting hurt and still tried to help him.

"Please, Lee. I know you're there."

His body was heavy. The orange chakra stopped covering him, letting tiredness being what covered him now instead. A pair of arms quickly carried him, with careful and precise movements, to somewhere far away.  When he opened his eyes, Neji was looking at him. It was like his hair was burnt; his soft, long hair, reduced to shoulder length, his skin filled with cuts and injuries and blood, yet he held him close without letting go. As their eyes met, his friend smiled, placing a hand in his hair. His expression revealed that he was tired, too. That he was hurt, bleeding.

_ That there weren't enough medical ninjas to save everyone. _

Maybe the fight would be done when they came back. The sky was dark, a giant slug trying to defend the village from a giant frog and snake, but… It was losing. Attacked from two angles at the same time, with no rest and no back up, dying as slowly as it moved.

"I knew you could hear me...", Neji muttered, words slow and filled with tiredness. He blinked once, twice, and then his eyes remained closed.

"Neji? Don't fall asleep, Neji!", the black haired boy exclaimed, shaking his friend in a desperate attempt at making him return. At making him hold to life, escaping the deep and eternal last sleep.

A lavender gaze fell on him, disappearing as soon as it returned. He... wasn't breathing... Lee wasn't sure that pressing his chest and giving him air through his mouth could help. He had to try anyways. He placed his hands in Neji's chest, feeling uneasy of doing so; but the boy had to save his life, he would understand.

_ One, two, three, four, five _ ; Neji still wouldn't wake up. His last option was to give him a mouth to mouth, even if he was embarrassed of doing so. He inflated his cheeks, and gently squeezed their lips together, instinctually closing his eyes as he made his friend alive again.

"Neji, Lee!", someone called from a distance, the voice quickly coming to them. Lee could feel the warmth of his face becoming stronger as Sakura approached, scratches and dust covering her skin. She stopped as she saw them, but started running again when she noticed the blood in the ground. "That won't help at all."

The pinkette separated Lee from his  _ fallen  _ teammate, checking for pulse in Neji's neck and frowning. Muttering something, she placed her hands in his stomach, where the snake Sannin hurt him with a blade. A light green aura emerged from her extremities, sweat forming in her forehead.

"Something is not right", Sakura said, looking at the closing wounds. "His pulse is barely there, even if the injury is closing. I... don't have many hopes."

"W...what?"

Sakura was one of the best medic ninjas of the village. How could she not save Neji? She's skilled enough to do that... what was the problem?

He didn't know the answer to that, but something yelled at him to put his hands close to hers, blood smeared in them from the previous touch. He couldn't lose his friend... he  **wouldn't** lose his friend. He was still young,  _ too young _ .

" _ Eh _ ?! It's working now!", Sakura noticed, surprised at the change. Then she noticed that Lee was supporting her, and a faint orange glow from him, and decided to keep quiet after that.

Lee squinted, frowned, bit his bottom lip. The process was slow; it was like the death was behind them, patiently waiting for a single moment of distraction to strike again,  _ harder _ . Neji couldn't breathe well, but it was better than not breathing at all. 

The dark red of the sky was replaced by dark blue by the time a loud gasp was heard in the forest, by the time an improvised healer and a trained one saw tears in a pair of pale lavender eyes; his friend was alive, alive, with wounds that would scar but still  _ alive and warm. _

Other ninjas of their generation slowly gathered around them, Hinata using a special balm in the lighter injuries, Naruto helping later on with his own orange glow. He could see bruises in their skin, yet they assisted as well as they could, ignoring their own needs in order to basically bring his friend back from the dead realm. Lee could sense the lack of two members of the InoShikaCho team, but there wasn't time to ask.

~

Neji was now in a hospital bed, body covered in bandages; the only thing that he could move now was his eyes, and it sucked. It was boring, he couldn't even reply to whatever the doctors or his visitors asked. At least Lee visited him everyday. He talked enough for the two of them, narrating things that ranged from what happened in his missions to recipes he was going to try that night, with help from his Mam. 

Today, his friend was accompanied by Sakura, who smiled innocently while the black haired boy looked at the wall and not at his eyes, hands behind his back. She pushed him a little, going to another room right after doing so, and Lee kept quiet for a while.  Neji could feel his lips twitching -  _ was he going to be able to speak now? _ -, just to cease the moment Lee showed a bouquet of variegated tulips, of red and pink tones. His face imitated the color of the flowers as he got closer.

"I-I, uh... you know", he said, searching for an answer in Neji's eyes. He blinked two times; no. "Umm... when Orochimaru and Jiraiya attacked and you, um, calmed Kurama, I... ahah, this is embarrassing", Lee added, placing the flowers in a vase. "I... tried to help you alone. With um, your breath. So I, um...  _ kinda  _ kissed you?"

Neji frowned, trying to show his confusion through his eyes; he didn't remember that happening - it's not like he could remember much if he had passed out, anyways -, why would he do that? Lee wasn't the type of person that invaded his space without permission.

"And since then, I... kinda realized that I like you. Looking back, I think I like you since the first Chunin exams or so, b-but you know!". His friend laughed, awkwardly scratching his hair. "So umm, Sakura was going to tell you if I didn't... I like you, Neji."

" _ Ah _ ... well..."

"YOU CAN TALK AGAIN, OH NO, THIS IS _SO_ _EMBARRASSING_ , GOOD BYE I'LL BE HERE AGAIN TOMORROW!!!", Lee screamed, before running through the door. Neji could hear Sakura laughing nearby, and he could know she went running to find him as her voice faded.

If his friend had let him continue, he would've known that he liked him too. But he had to wait another day, because he was shy around him when he remembered the snarky remarks he usually gave to whoever flirted with him. Lee wasn’t ‘whoever’, he wouldn’t treat him badly. He stopped his visits, that’s how embarrassed he was with that small exchange; seeing Naruto with flower bouquets and an annoyed expression in his face, all the seven days of his remaining time in medical care, was very hilarious.   
  


Lee and him kissed for real when Neji was discharged from the hospital, both being conscious and far away from dying this time. It was when they drank tea together, in the jinchuriki’s house; something quick and soft, that made both smile in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think of the story? I hope you liked it :D


End file.
